60 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
eelworms would be ultimately starved out ; but the method is 
impracticable in the majority of cases because of its costliness. 
Treatment of Ground. — Trenching can be applied in small areas, and 
to bury the eelworms as low as possible would do much to lessen the 
danger of attack. On larger areas ploughing with a skim coulter 
attached will also bury the eelworms to a fairly low depth. To resort 
to ordinary ploughing or digging would merely aid in distributing the 
eelworm over a larger area than previously. In the "Journal of the 
Board of Agriculture " for 1913 there appears a contribution on " Clover 
Sickness," in which it is stated that " it has been proved that when 
eelworms are buried to a depth of 5 in. they are killed." I have, un- 
fortunately, not yet succeeded in tracing a record of the experiments 
which led the writer to arrive at these conclusions. Bulbs planted 
8 in. deep have been found on lifting to be badly diseased, but the in- 
fection may have taken place near the soil surface. 
Rich manuring, so long as there is no risk in bringing eelworms to 
ground in infested manure has been advised for other crops. One 
recipe found to answer well for attack in oats and onions was : 
Sulphate of ammonia . . 4 parts. 
Steamed bones . . . 2 
Sulphate of potash . . .1 part. 
This was applied at the rate of if cwt. to the acre, followed by a dress- 
ing of two cwt. of sulphate of ammonia to the acre. This mixture 
gave such a luxuriant growth that in a little more than a fortnight 
after the second dressing the unhealthy plants, if any remained, ceased 
to be noticeable. Sulphate of potash is also confidently recommended. 
Applied at the rate of 3 cwt. to the acre, it answered admirably for 
infested oats, and no doubt such a dressing applied to ground occupied 
by bulbs might definitely help the plants to resist the attacks of eel- 
worm by increased luxuriance and by reason of the potash hardening 
the leaves in texture and so impeding the entrance of the pests. It must 
be clearly understood that these experiments refer to the onion and 
oat crops alone. Potassic manures are, however, difficult to obtain 
at the present time, and it is very doubtful if fertilizers can be depended 
upon to exterminate eelworm. All measures calculated to stimulate 
vigorous and healthy growth are serviceable in supporting infested 
plants, and it is hoped to give this question of manuring the fullest 
consideration next season. 
The types of soils in which the disease has appeared have been noted, 
but as far as observations were made the eelworm exists equally well 
in heavy and light ground. 
It has been seriously proposed to use steam to destroy eelworms 
in the field, in view of the fact that this treatment has met with great 
success when used in the greenhouse for cucumbers and tomatos 
attacked by the root-knot eelworm. No experiments have been made 
in this direction owing to the expense of the undertaking. A very 
large boiler and thousands of feet of perforated piping would be 
